


The Scandalous Fire Lady M

by Julyza



Series: The Nakamura Clan [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Cousin Incest, Dramedy, Fic within a Fic, Memoirs, Mild Smut, Multi, Non-Explicit Sex, Not A Fix-It, OC-centric, Other, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:06:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27865829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Julyza/pseuds/Julyza
Summary: At Least, I haven't published a memoir where I describe everything, from the most scandalous tales of the Fire Nation Court to every detail of my attempted coup.The Scandalous Lady M is banned in in the Earth Kingdom and in most proper households and libraries. It's quite a good book, I must say.-- Chapter 2, Misao of the Fire NationLady Misao Nakamura, Marchioness of Fire Fountain and former heiress to the Duchess of Shuhon, was 20 years old when she was married off to her late fiancé’s uncle to save her family from imminent death.The memoirs of Fire Lady Misao, Fire Lord Ozai's second wife and regent of Fire Lord Zuko. (Not to be confused with those of her great niece, Fire Lady Misao, wife of Fire Lord Iroh II).
Relationships: Azula & Ozai (Avatar), Lu Ten/Original Character(s), Zuko (Avatar) & Original Character(s)
Series: The Nakamura Clan [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2040097
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

“I heard that without Prince Lu Ten’s betrothal you and your family are truly fucked.” There was a gleeful look in my companion’s face at the idea of my family’s extinction that scared me. I should choose a different lady to fill her spot in my court, but unfortunately, Gia, my cousin on father’s side, would have to suffice until my favorite ladies, Aiko Minamoto and Tsubaki Ito, return to Fire Fountain Palace. “They said your mother is a fool and your father will be executed for his treasonous words.”

“We had grapes this morning.” I answer. “They signify good luck in the capitol and the continent.”

“What does that have to do with anything? Your father called Sozin a warmongering cunt and claims that our country is wrong for spreading civilization and prosperity to the rest of the world.” She argued.

“If we are all going to die then why would mother be throwing me such a grandiose ball for my twentieth birthday” I say hiding something that will ruin Aunt Xin’s mood for the rest of the year. “Mother will be announcing my betrothal tonight, I am to be married in three months!”

“Who would want to marry you, your fiancé is dead, and it won’t be long before you meet him in the spirit world.” Gia argues, unsurprisingly angry at the thought of Aunt Xin’s dreams coming true. “Has this stupid man met your father?”

Aunt Xin knew that in the event of my entire clan’s death, she would become Duchess of Shuhon and own everything from the tiny fishing villages to the crowing jewel of our island, the Summer Palace in Fire Fountain City.

Unfortunately for Aunt Xin, I was made Marchioness of Fire Fountain and I had two heirs, a newborn sister and my male cousin who had lived to see his first birthday yesterday in the Colonies. Sure, the stipulation so my sister could be my heir was that she would marry the only male child born to our family since the last century.

“ Ozai would not kill my family, not now that I am to marry him. Besides if we were all going to the execution block why bother proposing to me in the first place.” I try not to smirk and look as innocent as a dove.

“Ozai, as in Fire Lord Ozai.” Gia’s porcelain skin ---a much less luminous version of my own--- goes from fashionable to ghastly before squealing like a common wench. I laugh and share my news. I should have been marrying Lu Ten, but if I must marry a man old enough to be my father to save the entirety of my clan, then so be it. At least Fire Lord Ozai still had his looks and had a son from his late wife, so I won’t be under so much pressure to give him sons.

“Yes, I am to be Fire Lady. I would’ve told you sooner, but mother didn’t want me to say anything until Ozai announced it at the ball tonight.”

“No!” her face contorting in anger. I had heard of my aunt showing her off in court and tossing her into the Fire Lord’s path in hopes of killing two birds with one stone. That stone being my cousin and the two birds being the Duchy of Shuhon and a spot in court that is higher than my mother’s. I have to say nothing gives me more pleasure than knowing Aunt Xin will forever have to bow to my mother and me.

“Yes!” I grab her by the waist and spin her around. “Isn’t it wonderful!”

* * *

I had sat for many portraits during my twenty years of life. Many in this very pavilion and the last three were with my late fiancé. This one would be different.

Ozai had decided that we should be painted on the Chrysanthemum throne, as Fire Lord and Fire Lady.

This was an insult for my family, somehow worse than the tearing down of Fire Lord Himiko’s statue at the City Plaza.

I was born in in the second month of spring at midmorning, exactly when my lord father, Xian of the Wen Family, was ambushed and promptly relieved of his left leg, left eye and two fingers on his left hand. My father had been collateral damage in Ozai’s first mission. He never forgave him, even if he had been forced to apologize to my soon-to-be husband for ‘not following orders’.

I was named after the mother of Fire Lord Himiko, the first female Fire Lord in history and the last Fire Lord of our dynasty. The first consort to have sat at the Fire Lord’s side, in the same throne I now sit.

Ironically, Fire Lady Misao, whose name means fidelity in the old Fire Nation tongue, was executed on trumped up charges of adultery and even incest.

My father Wen Zhou, courtesy name Xiaolong, was not very patriotic. Sure he could act like he was when we were in Court or surrounded by the vipers in our sphere, but in the privacy of our home he made sure his daughters knew we weren’t the good guys in this story.

My mother, Amaya, had been relieved to know I was not a son. Many women have often bemoaned the lack of male offspring, but not Nakamura women. We, the only remaining clan with a claim to the dragon throne, had only survived by the fact that we had no sons born since the Great War begun.

Fire Lord Itsuki was born during the first years of Avatar Sveto’s time and had had a sired at least six sons, but sadly none of them lived to become adults. Leaving his throne to his daughter Himiko. And since Fire Lord Himiko refused to marry and sire children, the Chrysanthemum Throne passed to the Dragon Clan of Caldera, distant cousins of us through Fire Lord Itsuki’s sister.

I should mention Sozin erased us from history and then eradicated all competitors who had planned on removing him from the throne.

How did we survive the royal extermination?

Easy, my great-grandfather was his lover.

Now it falls to me to save my family and raise our status even further.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for mentions of a miscarriage, alluded sexual assault and casual mentions of cousin incest.

Lu Ten had never liked the gaudiness of Sozin’s time, but my new husband had inherited it. His royal portrait reflected that. Its like a racist teenager met the clusterfuck of the early first century. Apparently, the Air Nomad Genocide and subsequent ‘murder’ of Avatar Roku’s successor at the start of the Great War demanded that we record time differently. We are at the very end of the first Godless Century and I look forward to the day people stop worshiping beings that don’t fucking exist.

If they exist, why would they let everything get so out of hand?

My family’s rooms in court sadly did not remain untouched and gone were the soft crème-colored walls and simple ebony furnishings. The damn suite was now a nightmare of blood red and gold. Even though the furniture was the same, whoever took over the décor fucking loathed me and wished to cause me a headache at sunrise, noon and sunset.

“I have not seen so much red on gold since my lady mother miscarried four years ago.” I told Aiko as we talked over tea and stopped so she could rub eucalyptus oil on my temples.

“That is an awful thing to say, Misao.” She says in reply looking a bit green at the imagery I put in her head. She had been there when mother in her beautiful golden silk dress, one of those modern ones with a birdcage petticoat, thin obi sash and a whalebone corset, bled profusely onto the golden silk when she slipped and fell at a banquet. What was supposed to be my little brother could fit in my hands and it was then I realized that the Nakamura Curse might be real.

“Let us talk about happier things, M. The Fire Lord seems quite taken with you; I have no doubt you will be happy together.”

Oh yes, he had made such grand gestures this morning. Kissing me full on the lips and expecting tongue---his goatee felt weird and he tasted of _baijiu_ \--- and having me ride beside him on a palanquin made for Fire Lord Sozin and his consort --- Sozin spared no effort to cover up his homosexuality to the point of criminalizing it--- all the way to the royal palace.

I say nothing and keep my eyes closed, I may have to get this checked out by the Royal Physicians, my migraines only seen to get worse. I groan and hiss when I open my eyes after my private guard announces the Great Sage who then asks that everyone save for my maidservant leave my rooms.

“May I know why, your holiness?” I had heard rumors about the examination to verify that a royal bride has not been deflowered, but not even my mother has told me what it was about. Then again, mother’s betrothal to Prince Ozai had fallen through when Fire Lord Azulon realized mother had almost no male relatives and the Great Sage started rambling about uniting Roku’s blood with Sozin’s seed.

“It is a private matter regarding your impending marriage, your ladyship.” There was something unnerving in the way he looked at me. He, no doubt, will bring up the Nakamura Curse and convince me to ask Ozai to restore the Royal Harem Sozin’s father abolished. I wouldn’t mind having someone to share my wifely duties with, but my marriage is about consolidating my family’s power and me being the most influential woman in my country if not the world.

“Oh.” What else am I supposed to say? Shall we commence, you must be so busy with the new Earth Kingdom slave girls bought by the whorehouse you frequent so much. I was blessed with a family who had long since broken out of the Fire Nation’s brainwashing, but I am not allowed to speak my mind.

“I should apologize in advance if I offend, my lady, but this is for the sake of your reputation and your rebirth after your death.” I had assumed the royal physician would do it. At least the physician would ask his female colleague to do it and this perverted old man known for soliciting teenage girls in brothels wouldn’t be getting anywhere near my person.

“Prince Lu Ten and I never did anything untoward, and Agni may strike me dead if I am lying.” I say confidently. Usually that last part is enough to shut people up, but it seems this test is not over.

“Yes, my lady, we do not wish to speak ill of the late Prince, and we know you are an exemplary virtuous and chaste lady, but I must go forth with this examination and make sure your barrier is intact.”

“My what?” I know what he means, but I am hoping it’s not that. My maid, An, takes a step closer to me.

“He wants to examine your maidenhood to see if its intact.” She whispers.

“Agni give me strength.” I mutter under my breath.

* * *

“Well, that was awful.” Aiko Minamoto, my best friend, comments after I tell her what happened after she left my rooms.

“How long do you think I have to wait to replace him with one of my cousins? I never want to see that man again.” I ask, rhetorically, I know the answer is when I give Ozai a son. Which might never happen. Perhaps I can talk the Madame of the brothel he frequents to poison his tea.

We continued our Xiangqi match and try to put the events of this morning in the past and think of better things like my coronation. Pai Sho is much more popular and normally everyone plays it when in Court, but I don’t feel like following these unspoken rules today.

“Lady Fire Fountain,” there was a decidedly nastiness Azula, my soon-to-be stepdaughter, had when greeting me in the gardens.

“Your Highness,” I rose from my seat and curtsied in greeting thus observing court etiquette instead of demanding that she acknowledges me as her stepmother.

“Lady Fire Fountain, I must cut our game short, I forgot I am to be meeting my betrothed for a Pai Sho game.” Aiko takes her leave, and her seat is taken by Azula. If she had been Zuko, I wouldn’t have felt like I have been put in the spot.

I see myself in this girl, too perfect and with ambition to match her growing intellect. Unlike me, she had a selfish mother who abandoned her and her brother and a father who is turning her into a monster.

“Now that she’s been taken care of, shall we start,” Azula takes a piece from the board.

“If you would like we can have the servants reset the board, your highness.” I offer politely and wait for Azula, who didn’t seem to think I was some harlot who schemed her way into the Fire Lord’s bed a few months ago.

“No, even with such a poor game as this one I can win the match, and a game is not what I came for.” She dismissed and made a move. A good one, and one I had been dying for Aiko to make three moves ago.

“Oh, well Lady Aiko is much better at conversation than she is at Xiangqi. I am afraid she only plays to humor me. I know we didn’t speak much before, but I am always available if you need company, your highness.” I take advantage of Aiko’s losing moves and Azula hums in approval.

“I am not some child who needs a mother.” She says and I pretend to agree. For fuck’s sake you are a fucking eleven-year-old, you need a sane adult who can steer you away from the path you father has you on, Azula.

“I apologize, but that is not what I meant, I freely offer my friendship to anyone who I would like to be friends with even those who don’t desire it because that is who I am.” In two more moves I will no longer have the advantage over her, not that I care about winning, but Azula does and I kind of want to prove a point. “What do you wish to speak with me about, your highness?”

“As you know, you are expected to give my father heirs, Lady Fire Fountain.” Azula doesn’t even look at the board, her golden eyes grilling into my honey-colored ones.

“Please call me Misao, or M as my friends and family do, your highness.” She does not respond in kind and I shake it off before continuing, “I believe every woman is aware of what is required of them in a marriage, Princess Azula. From peasant women to Fire Ladies all women must give their husbands sons and daughters. If they cannot conceive, then they adopt, or the men simply just take a concubine.”

I am being obtuse about it because I know what she is after, I did the same to father’s concubine who I then found out was barren and shared between him and mother.

“If Agni sees fit for your father and I to have sons, you will be after them in the line of succession, and if we have daughters your place will remain the same. I cannot control the sex of my future children anymore than I can control the weather, which is why I am glad that Prince Zuko still lives as I would be under more pressure to birth your father a son.” I try not to smirk, but unfortunately, I am still playing a losing game and the odds of me having sons is almost nonexistent.

“Who says Zuko will be Fire Lord after him? We all thought Uncle would be Fire Lord with Lu Ten following him after, but you are very aware how that turned out.”

Was this little shit threatening to kill my hypothetical children just to keep with this rather fucked up plan to usurp the throne from her brother?

If only she knew that the Fire Nation as it is would not stand behind a woman if a man were available, even if that man was a literal infant. So much for gender equality.

Her play is good. She could have me in three or more moves if I don’t start playing seriously.

“Ah, yes. I heard some rumors about that.” I bait her and it almost disappoints me to know she took the bait.

“About what?” While Azula was a fire bending prodigy and fashioned in her father’s image, she was still a preteen who had yet to learn how to survive the hideous underbelly of court life.

“Oh,” I say innocently pretending I did not start that rumor with my cousins in parliament when we were reviewing my marriage settlement and my path to glory.” Just some nonsense going around in court, I’d rather not sully your mind with it.” Huzzah! I manage to gain a small advantage over her. In the game, of course.

She dismisses the maids and smiles sweetly, like a cat that had its way with the entire nest of birds in the garden. “You can tell me, M, and I can bring it up to my father if it gets out of hand.”

“Oh, no need to trouble you with that, your highness. Its just something made up by bored ladies who fancy themselves lawyers. It is not like your parents’ marriage was made void with Princess Ursa’s banishment; I spoke to Ozai and he will fix it by naming your lady mother Fire Lady posthumously once I am crowned.” I say dismissively and wishing I had kept playing up the suspense. “We can’t have Zuko’s right to the throne be obstructed by court gossips, can we?”

“I suppose, but if my lady mother were to be welcomed back in Court your children will be called bastards, wouldn’t they, M?” She says my nickname with such venom I almost think I went too far, but as smart as this girl is, she forgets that her father has declared her mother dead and if Ursa were to ever return my family would make her wish she had stayed away.

There are at least three assassins in our pocket, and the Combustion Bender is our favorite.

“The Fire Lord would then have to decide which wife to denounce or simply reinstate the royal harem.” It appears I am going to win this match, which irks my soon-to-be stepdaughter almost as much as this conversation. “The Fire Lord doesn’t need to follow Parliament nor the Fire Sages, as he is anointed by Agni.”

“I would not argue with your new mother. Nakamura women are renowned for their education and Lady Fire Fountain is no exception.” He says complimenting me, even though I have been forewarned about not outshining him with my wit and competence. I am only here to please him in bed, bear him perfect children ---as if I had any viable control over that--- and run the court until death do us part.

Which is a good warning as I have been told that my intellect and wit might be attractive on a mistress, but not on a wife. Apparently, my brilliance is emasculating to some men and not all men are like my darling father who believes women are people too.

“Fire Lord Ozai.” I bow demurely in greeting and he waves his hand pretending that he doesn’t enjoy lording his power over everyone.

“None of that, my love. You will be my wife in less than a week, please call me Ozai.” He takes my hand and kisses. Is it bad that maybe I would like my marriage to work?

“As you say, Ozai.” I blush prettily and pretend not to notice how angry it makes Azula.

I mean it could be worse. No, seriously, I could’ve been married off to Lu Ten’s father, Zuko or any cousin from my father’s side of the family--- we aren’t above cousin fucking nor were Fire Lord Azulon and Fire Lady Ilah. According to some correspondence I am not supposed to know about, even King Kuei ---who is just three years older than me--- had sent a proposal via his Grand Secretariat, but I guess I'll make do with just the Fire Nation.

Either way, I am going to be Fire Lady Misao by the end of the week, and I guarantee you that I will be more than just a footnote in our nation’s history.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted M to run into Zuko in the gardens instead of Azula, but I needed someone who can see through some of Misao’s faux innocence and as you can see, Misao is what Azula could’ve been had she been raised in a good home. Well, not good seeing as they have pet assassins, just not toxic parents.  
> I will regularly shit on Ursa, because even though she was a victim of Ozai, she still was a shitty parent.  
> Baijuu, is clear Chinese liquor that is drunk in small glasses that have the same capacity as a regular small shot glass. I know that last part because my aunts bought those for my grandparents 70th anniversary last year by mistake thinking they were just really fancy shot glasses.  
> Xiangqi is Chinese Chess. I wanted to have them play Pai Sho, but for character purposes I changed it.


	3. Chapter 3

“You know I have always admired you, M. You were born to be Fire Lady and although the loss of my nephew pains me, I am glad Agni has allowed me to be the one you rule beside with.” He smiles and I wonder if his smile has always had that sinister undertone to it. I mean no fine clothes or five-pronged flame can ever compensate for his sneer, but there was a lot of malice in his aura and I feel stupid at never having seen it before.

He did have an ambush prepared for my father when my mother chose a second son over a royal prince, it wouldn’t be too farfetched if he were responsible for the murder of his nephew, wife and father. So long as he doesn’t kill me, or beat me, I could overlook it.

“I must thank you for such a compliment, your majesty, although I must assure you, I deserve no such praise.” I can’t say, ‘thanks, I already knew that my mother has been telling me I was born to be Fire Lady since I was six when your father betrothed a seven-year-old Lu Ten to me'.

“You are too modest, and not falsely modest like other highborn women. It’s refreshing.” He remarks and I fight the urge to roll my eyes. “Which is why it makes it more fitting that you should wear Fire Lady Misao’ golden chrysanthemums on our wedding day.”

He takes a mahogany box, lined with burgundy velvet, from the vaults and presents it to me.

It was a traditional comb with a big red and gold chrysanthemum in the middle and two smaller ones beside of it. It was simple and understated in comparison to the headdress Fire Lady Ilah had worn and too elegant and unconventional to have been worn by Ursa. Ursa had not been raised as a noblewoman and it showed in her frugal wardrobe.

My mother had mentioned the Royal Jewelers asking to see the famous paintings of the Nakamura Consorts and sketching the famous golden chrysanthemum hair pin crafted for the short-lived Fire Lady Misao. It had been melted down and turned into a rather plain hair comb for her husband’s next wife, Fire Lady Jiayi, who was cremated along with it.

That Ozai would go as far as having this replica made for me, would be seen as such a thoughtful thing a man in love would do.

But the man I will be married to is no love-struck buffoon and I am no hapless girl. Sure, the hair piece was beautiful and of the best quality, but few people understood how this was yet another warning to my family.

That he chose Misao of a Thousand Days instead of Fire Lady Chuntao ---Sozin’s unfortunate wife--- or even Fire Lady Ilah’s bridal crowns was fucking genius and I am not afraid to compliment my now ex-husband on his savvy.

What easier way to remind your wife and her family that just like Fire Lord Itsuki executed his second wife for not giving him a son ---and then replacing her with Jiayi of the Saewon Clan the next day--- he could do the same to me.

Too bad he wouldn’t be the victor in this game.

* * *

After several comments on how he plans on fucking me wearing only Fire Lady Chuntao's crown jewels between that day and intruding in my rooms so he could get himself off while I bathed. I have hope that at least my marriage bed will be pleasant. Although fantasizing about fucking your wife while she wears your dead granny’s jewels is not as erotic as it sounds.

Before you ask, I do know what sex is. Even if I have not naively thrown my virtue away as my predecessor ---for everyone of importance knew that Ursa of Hira’a was not a virgin on her wedding night--- had done, I knew how to pleasure myself and please a man without doing the beast with two backs.

For those who will be reading my memoirs in the future, that was a euphemism for sexual intercourse. I know you all aren’t here just for my wit and writing ability.

My mother had given the talk when I was seventeen after I found one of the maids riding the master at arms with gusto. After the rather vague talk with my mother and the discovery of erotica in the secret corner of her personal library, I learned enough to try to seduce Lu Ten the night before he was deployed to Ba Sing Se.

Before you ask, it did not work. Lu Ten was too much of a gentleman to deflower me and instead we slept together ---fully clothed and in a not sexual way--- until a discreet chambermaid helped me return to my family’s suite unnoticed…or so I thought.

Fondly reminiscing how Gia’s older half-brother ---no blood relation to me--- pleasured me with his mouth prior to my engagement while reading rather explicit erotica was not how I expected to have a conversation with my soon-to-be stepson. If I had any say in it, I would’ve married my step-cousin instead of Ozai, the man who would’ve been my father in another lifetime.

I immediately close the book and hide it under pillows on my bed and wash my hands on the porcelain basin in my chamber before receiving him in the drawing room.

A few months ago, I was working to getting to see me as an older sister or an older cousin, but now I have to be motherly even though he is about nine years younger than me. Although Crown Prince Zuko was not like his father and younger sister. He wanted to be like them, but he lacked the finesse those other two had.

I could guide him in the finer points of establishing your dominance over people while making it look like you are superior to them even though you are just insecure and not of sound mind. What did that water tribe woman who used to serve as my maid before she tried to kill Fire Lord Azulon and his family call it? Ah, yes, Alpha Male.

“Oh, good afternoon, your highness. I haven’t seen you almost all week, one would think you were trying to avoid me.” I say with my usual charm and amiability.

“I’ve been busy with training and my studies.” He tries to say calmly, his voice cracking out of nervousness ---boys found me intimidating since my societal debut at the age of fifteen.

“Shall I ring for refreshments, your highness?” I ask being a good host.

“Zuko, you don’t have to call me by my title.” He said trying to avoid my eyes. Chunhe, Gia’s half-brother, had said I scared boys with my beauty when we hung out in the maples outside his father’s estate in the colonies. As flattering as that was, it was only part of it. The fact that I am the second most powerful woman in the Fire Nation, even before Princess Ursa was banished I held precedence over her what with me being a future Fire Lady with her own titles and all.

“You can still call me Misao or M as you did before. I won’t force you to call me mother, and your father agrees with me on that.” That wasn’t a lie, as much as it would help me ingrain myself to the people and my new husband ---and help Zuko gain my family’s support when he succeeds Ozai--- I do not seek to replace their biological mother, my aunt had done that with Chunhe and that worked as good as her ploy to hitch Gia to Ozai.

“My father said that.” He asks hoping his father loved him that much to respect that. Since I feel bad and I am a better person than his parents ---no woman who abandons her children nor one who doesn’t kill their husband when given the chance to take out two birds with one stone is a good mother--- I lie.

“Yes, he doesn’t want me to replace your mother, which is why you will call me ‘my lady stepmother’ when in public and Misao when it’s just us.” In my defense, saying ‘your dad doesn’t love you because your imbecile of a mother claimed you were some nobody’s bastard and even if he knows you are his fucked-up mind ,courtesy of your cousin fucking grandfather, won't let him’ is not what you should tell a twelve-year-old.

My words have the desired effect and now I should find a way to convince Ozai about letting his children call me by my given name before tomorrow.

Great, and here I was hoping no one would bother me so I can practice not saying the wrong name when I orgasm as I masturbate imagining my not-cousin is railing me the day before my wedding.

* * *

My wedding was the most lavish wedding the Fire Nation had seen even my stepson’s wedding to his childhood sweetheart had been as expensive as mine.

It wasn’t a kimono like the one typically worn by the women in my island. The hanfu did have some characteristics of a _uchikake_ kimono. If I had been married in the family shrine in Shuhon ---as all people in my family do--- I would’ve had to wear an all-white bridal kimono and then an _uchikake_ that was more to my tastes for the wedding feasts.

Don’t get me wrong the silk is of the highest quality and no doubt many of the royal dressmakers have been over-worked to hand paint and painstakingly embroider clothes I will only wear for one day, but I wasn’t even allowed to choose the designs because fucking Lo and Li are as tasteless as their nephew and my unconventional tastes don’t agree with them. Oh, you didn’t know. Lo and Li are Azulon’s bastard sisters ---by Azulon’s governess--- that Sozin legitimized after his death.

Rumor has it that Sozin fucked the pretty governess when tongues started wagging about his secret activities with his valet. A strapping young man rumored to have been gifted with a big cock and skillful hands, or so my drunk great grandmother told me long ago. And yes, the Dowager Duchess of Shuhon, Arun of Bhanti, is as healthy as a komodo rhino at the age of one hundred and twenty.

I know some people will want more detail about the wedding, but it went off without a hitch and aside from veiled threats from my now husband and his daughter, it doesn’t really deserve its own chapter.

Because my wedding night will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Voila, the third chapter. As much as I love writing this Misao, I am terrible with deadlines because I am job hunting, cleaning, and trying to write coherent sentences.  
> M is named after the Anne Boleyn of Avatar, another character I made up, Jiayi is Jane Seymour and Istuki is Henry VIII. The Nakamuras are a mix of the Tyrells from Game of Thrones, the Tudor Dynasty of Great Britain and the Coburgs of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha who essentially married into every royal house in the 19th and early 20th centuries.  
> If you didn’t guess an Uchikake Kimono is a bridal kimono that is heavily adorned and embroidered coat that goes over the wedding kimono which is usually all white.  
> I’ll leave you to figure out who the water tribe maid M had was.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: not very explicit sex scene in the middle of the chapter, skip to the part in between the page breaks if you want to avoid it.

To summarize my wedding was extravagant…and long. Weddings can last up to weeks and mine lasted five days.

Lo and Li ---with extraordinarily little input from anyone associated with me--- had outdone themselves and even managed to fake a phoenix to make everyone believe we were blessed by the spirits themselves. I still do not know how they did it.

“Do not drink too much during the feasts, drinking too much is unbecoming on a Fire Lady.” My husband orders.

The chrysanthemum hair comb sits uneasily on my head and fills me with a feeling I cannot really place, but it’s not a positive one. I feel like I have been clasped into an animal collar and Ozai holds the leash.

Dehumanizing, that’s the word. I am no longer Lady Fire Fountain property of no one. I wonder if Northern Water Tribe women get that feeling when their men give them the betrothal necklaces?

I know the tribes aren’t the barbarians we are taught they are, but arranged marriages are a thing there too.

“Forgive me, I am just nervous, dearest.” I lower my eyes for a moment and pretend I am not angry that I cannot drink more than one fucking toast at my own fucking wedding that he didn’t even let me plan. As if I had not been planning my wedding day since I was fifteen when my parents sat me down and told me I wasn’t to have a proper season as I already had a fiancé, so I wasn’t going to be allowed to flirt, dance or even get social calls from young men that liked me.

The rest of the wedding is spent in a similar manner. Azula feigns enough affection for me that makes me wish actresses weren’t seen as whores so I can send her to the Royal Theatre, Zuko forgets to call me by the right honorific and it gets him reprimanded by his father and I am just counting the minutes for this gaudy party is over.

And when it is, I am escorted by my ladies in waiting, two maids, the abbess of Bhanti and my mother.

It takes about two squads of people to prepare me for my wedding night. I had assumed it would be my ladies, my mother, and the maids to psych me up, dress me in my night clothes and then take to the bridal chamber.

If the dowager duchess is right, Sozin not only spent the required one night a month with his wife there, but he also ravished his men there. Oh, the Sozin fanatics who still believe he was straight are such idiots.

Just as soon as I am put in a plain silk night dress and then given a red and gold robe over it for modesty Lo and Li leave my mother and I alone as they assume, I haven’t been given ‘the Talk'.

“I know we already had this conversation, dear M, but I need to remind you that your first time will not be like those novels you think I don’t know you read.” She said sternly, not in a reprimand, but making sure I can fell the weight of her words. “The Fire Lord will take his pleasure and you may find the experience painful and uncomfortable. Especially with the Great Sage and the Royal Physician, Charya of Ma'inka, being there to witness the consummation of your marriage.”

I blush as crimson as the robe I am wearing. Yes, I know sex is exaggerated in erotica, but all the hints Ozai had given surely meant my mother was wrong. Its not like she had lost her maidenhead to the Fire Lord, so what did she know.

And I already had known about the two witnesses, Lo and Li had complained about Ozai limiting the number of witnesses from four courtiers, the Royal Physician, and the Fire Sages.

Maybe it won’t be intimate seeing that two old men will be in the room, but it can’t be that bad, right?

As I write this chapter, I can tell you, it was worse.

* * *

There is a screen that provides a bit of privacy to us and there is tea served for the Physician, Charya of Ma’inka, and the Great Sage, whatever the fuck his name is. I almost laughed at the men talking about the weather as my maids removed the crimson robe and partially undressed us on the other side of the screen.

Normally, the sheets would be the sole witness of the consummation, but apparently, we needed to do the dirty in a way that guaranteed conception, which I think is complete ostrich horse shit.

Thinking they would just be twenty feet away and not interfere with it, I remained naïve and thought the man gently laying me down the bed wouldn’t be too rough with me.

Ozai is doesn’t fully undress, he remains in his trousers and my night dress, a modern thing with a scallop neck and barely a ribbon keeping it on my shoulders, is pushed up and bunched around my hips. I guess I won’t be naked tonight, I should’ve known this would be the first of many disappointments.

He prepares me with his hands and just when I start to feel the telltale signs of an orgasm the Fire Sage reprimands me for being shameless even though he is the one who insisted that there be witnesses when my husband takes my virginity.

Ozai takes out his cock, which I have become remarkably familiar with this past week and I have high hope it will give me the release the Fire Sage seems intent on denying me.

The physician then tells my husband that he should begin and instructs just how many times he will take me before climaxing --- 100 times--- and to my horror both the Sage and the Doctor come to witness my deflowering. If it weren’t for the fact that I am allowed to shut my eyes and Ozai has a firm grip on my legs I would be kicking and screaming. Not because the breaking of my barrier stings like a bitch, but because the disgusting slimy Fire Sage is watching over my husband’s shoulder.

“Think of what fun you had this day, your highness, it will make the pain subside and we’ll be out of your hair in a second.” The Physician ---who seems embarrassed at having to be here instead of at home with his family--- says addressing me averting his eyes with a look of pity in his face.

The Sage only hums in approval at seeing the deed done. I swear I will enjoy seeing him die in a slow painful death for these humiliations.

There is blood, thus proving what they already knew, and I breathe out in relief when Doctor Charya drags the priest out of the bridal chamber, thank Agni.

The Physician, Charya of Ma’inka, has more morality in his pinkie finger than the Great Sage, who would have known.

* * *

The rest of the act isn’t as horrible, but it is more dull than painful and when Ozai finally finishes, I fight the urge to push him off me.

Flameo, will it be like this every time? I shudder.

We dress in our nightclothes and the maids take away the dirty linen. I hope they burn it and while they are at it, they should burn this blasted night dress and the Fire Sage as well.

Why did no one tell me sex was so gross? I envy Fire Lady Chuntao who only had to suffer Sozin on top of her once a month.

Ozai leaves as he orders a bath. Before I know it, one of the chamber maids come forward.

“The Fire Sage said you must sit with your legs in the air for five minutes to make it easier for the Fire Lord’s seed to reach your womb.” The woman has the decency to blush and look thoroughly embarrassed. I should speak to the housekeeper tomorrow and give her a raise, or free her if she is a slave.

A man who is supposed to be celibate and hellbent on humiliating me gives me, an educated woman advice on how to conceive, what is next will he tell me how I should take care of my menstrual courses?

I scoff as the maid hold my legs upward while the room is tidied up by the other woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Initially, M was supposed to have a normal first time, but she needed to be disappointed and more reasons to hate the Great Sage, so you get my first attempt at writing smut. Do remember I am Asexual with no firsthand knowledge of it ---and who is fine without ever getting said first-hand knowledge--- if you are thinking about critiquing it.  
> See ya next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

Two years later

* * *

After almost two years of dull sex, I have not carried a child to term.

I conceived once last year but miscarried before the third month and two months ago my courses stopped, and I have kept this news to myself in case it is just a false alarm.

Not that I want children, Ozai has Zuko and Azula, and I have Hisa and Taro. Besides, I have never really liked children and pregnancy is horribly uncomfortable. Going through it again sounds like a fucking nightmare.

The nuns of Bhanti will claim that I will only become pregnant when I make the pilgrimage there and pass through the rainbow flames, while the less discreet ladies at Court say Ozai is not as fertile as he was thirteen years ago.

I may be guilty of that last one. I knew Ozai had been plotting to put some highborn slut in my place, so I told ‘in confidence’ to my ladies and the royal seamstresses that perhaps I would already have a baby in my arms if the Fire Lord wasn’t so bad in bed.

Where is the lie? I haven’t had good sex in so long I have had to resort to fucking my step-cousin to get some much needed pleasure. Too bad Chunhe is pinning over some handsome new guard in my detail and I can't make him my official lover.

For now, I am getting ready to take a sabbatical as doctors available to me try to figure out what is wrong with me when they should figure out what is wrong with my husband’s cock.

“May I just say you look lovelier than ever, dear cousin?” he flirts and kisses my knuckles in greeting.

“You may, dearest cousin, have you been in Caldera long?” I ask, making sure to refer my lover ---and not cousin--- as cousinly as possible, so no one can suspect that I cheated on my husband when I was visiting the old Summer Palace.

“Just a day, my travels through the colonies took longer than I thought it would.” He answers and I take the hint.

“Come let us speak in my gardens, I don’t want people to bother me when you tell me all about Cousin Qing and Cousin Taro.” There was a little nook in my private garden that is perfect for talking about things like if he found Lu Ten’s body which we never got back.

After my mother remarked how there were no bodies for Lu Ten and Ursa, I began my own secret investigations into the matter.

Ursa had disappeared within the month of arriving at Hira’a and the soldiers in charge of keeping my late betrothed alive had been found in an Earth Kingdom prison by the White Lotus contact in said prison.

“Shirshus are such wonderful creatures, you know. I am surprised your husband hasn’t given you one, dearest.” He says vaguely. June the Bounty Hunter was one of my people. Nyla had been a gift to her father from my grandfather out of gratitude for finding my father who was left for dead in the desert.

“How was Nyla? Did you give her the treats I sent with you?” I asked. What I meant was, did Nyla find Lu Ten alive?

“Yes, although June didn’t let me ride her as she promised.” So, they did find something, but it was impossible to get it.” I would’ve ridden her all the way to Ba Sing Se, jump over the outer ring and trampled their fields.”

Lu Ten was in the Outer Ring of Ba Sing Se, probably in the agrarian sector. Was he is in the secret prison the Dai Li ran underground? Lake Yokai, Logai, what was it called again.

“That’s a shame. It must be fun to have a pet Shirshu.” Can June or her dad get him out?

“There too ugly for you, cousin.” Chunhe nudges a white lotus in my pond and I give him a pointed look. “How come this lotus hasn’t bloomed yet?”

The White Lotus might be able to help, just not right now.

“Ugh, I can’t even stand to look at it. It throws off my garden’s aesthetic!” Fuck, how much longer will I have to be married to Ozai?

“I bet the Fire Lord’s gift will make you feel better,” Chunhe ribs, so my husband found King Bumi’s fabled granddaughter and heiress? Poor girl, she had been kidnapped on the way to her own wedding in Ba Sing Se and had been forced into servanthood. She was one of them, the White Lotus, but she didn’t know I was one of them too.

It is then when I hear the unmistakable sound of my husband and his entourage ---six guards, two maids and his scribe--- making its way here. Oh, great. Good thing we are just about done with this conversation.

“My dear wife, I have been looking for you.” He says as me and my companions ---Aiko Minamoto and two attendants--- bow in greeting.

“I was just showing my cousin the garden, he just returned from the colonies.” I say sweetly and shamelessly try to peek behind the guards hoping to see the girl clad in pale gold, the color of the Fire Lady’s attendants. Was this Princess Ruyi? “Have you brought me a new gift, dearest husband? I am afraid I will become a very spoiled wife if you keep showering me with gifts.”

“nonsense, my love, you need a capable servant even one unworthy of even touching the hem of you dress.” He dismisses and the guards shove Ruyi forward. I know he only wants to be discreet in his affairs with her. Poor girl to have to endure my husband to keep her head

She was a beauty, and deadly if her reports were right. Princess Ruyi had eyes like emeralds, olive skin and a quirk in her lips that promised great conversation and someone who understood my sarcasm. I should have known I would be meeting my best friend in such a strange way.

“This is your new maid, Ruyi of Omashu. She is a nonbender, so she won’t be of much trouble and I have heard she is well educated, so you won’t suffer any more idiots.” He smiles as he notices one of my attendants gulp nervously. The head of my maidservants had been killed in an Agni Kai after serving bad tea to Azula. She had been a spy for Ozai, so you can imagine his displeasure when his daughter got rid of her.

“I am so grateful for you gift, I need a new maid, after all it wouldn’t do for the Fire Lady to only have five maids.” I only need like three, but the two other women who served as my husband’s spies could not be killed in mysterious circumstances yet.

“Only the best for my wife. I will leave you to get yourself acquainted with your new servant.” His kisses me on the lips, I have never been one for physical displays of affection and now the brush of his lips against my skin repulses me.

After that I claim to be tired and retire to my rooms, the Fire Lady’s rooms which are now remodeled to my tastes and mostly spy free. Fire Fountain would’ve given me my own palace, but lucky for me Chuntao wanted to be as far away as possible from her husband so Ozai couldn’t hear what went on in my dressing room unless he were there with me.

* * *

“You are a smart woman, your majesty.” Ruyi comments as I change out of my dress and into a simple yukata.

“So are if you if you have survived this long, your highness.” I return the compliment as I reach out to tie my obi by myself. I have never liked being dressed up like a doll, but I am a highborn woman and now a Fire Lady, so I rarely get the pleasure of dressing myself. “Is it true your grandmother was an air bender?”

“Yes, and my father was named Aang. My mother, Xiuying, was granddaughter to Kuzon, the Outspoken. Sadly, I am no air bender, but my grandfather taught me all he knew about earth bending.” She says and turns the soil of the potted plant turn to rock and then loosen again.

“You must be great at gardening.” I heard the Earth Sage Jianzhu, in the early years of Avatar Kyoshi, buried five thousand of the Yellow Necks in his prime. If she could bury the Great Sage and my husband, I’d give her half the Fire Nation as a thank you.

“Kyoshi herself would envy me, my lady.” So, she was a Kyoshi warrior as well, King Kuei will be a lucky man. The white Lotus didn’t say how long would she be kept here, they just asked me to take her as my servant to prevent Ozai from rapping her. We had a secret network to safely transport war prisoners in and out of the Fire Nation. Who better to hide the future Earth Queen Consort than me, the Fire Lady.

“None of that here, you must call me Misao or M when no one us around. Tell me what you have heard about me” I say as she opens the door to my dressing room and one of the maids, one of my spies, hands the hairbrushes to Ruyi and instructs her on how to do it.

“I heard you are too weak to carry a child to term, but I don’t think anyone would want a monster’s child, so you dodged a disk there, M.” The smirk on her face tells me that Ruyi already knows how to play even after being dealt a losing hand.

“I think we’ll get along just fine, Ruyi.”

“Your majesty, Prince Zuko is here.” One the maids, the one who gulped earlier, interrupts. I should remember their names, shouldn’t I? I don’t like getting attached to people I will eventually kill.

“Please send him in, and bring in some tea and snacks, I’m famished.” There had been some telltale signs that I was once again pregnant which was why I was leaving for Bhanti for the next four weeks. As much as I hate my husband, I don’t kill babies.

“I will miss you, M. No one else here gets me.” He says almost dejectedly. I had taken him under my wing and while he may still be bad at being bad, he had the makings of a good ruler. One who could rule in peaceful times and not in a war as old as my great grandmother, who I had assumed was 120, but was 117 actually. The Bhanti live long, even the ones who don’t become nuns and monks.

“As will I, but you have Iroh here to help you out if your father refuses to follow through my suggestions. What is the point of having a sensible heir if you can’t show him off, eh?” I take a seat beside him and remind him he still has allies here at court. “I’ll be back in a month and if it all goes right this time; you’ll have a younger sibling by your next birthday.” I whisper that last part as if Ozai hasn’t made the occasional remark asking if I was with child.

“Azula says we shouldn’t get our hopes up and if it’s a boy, father won’t let be Fire Lord after him.” Damn, as much as I have been trying to get Azula the help she needs, the Dragon’s Madness was hereditary and could be contained if given help before it’s too late.

“You are Ozai’s firstborn and your younger brothers come after you in the line of succession, Azula is just angry that she would be put in third, or fourth place if what the shaman said was right.” I reassure him. It’s not easy to know that I could easily turn against him and put my own children on the throne.

“Will you write to me about the rainbow flames? I heard they can fix anything, maybe we could throw Azula in there so she can be good and nice like she was before father sent her to the Academy.” Zuko smiles sadly. Azula had made so much progress until Lo and Li decided I was coddling her too much and sent her off to school.

“I promise. Aiko and my new maid Ruyi are good artists, I might ask them for sketches to send you so you can get a better look.” I don’t even know if Ruyi can draw, but it’s too dangerous to leave her behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you can’t tell I love writing this fic. It just comes so easily. Next up: Zuko’s banishment.
> 
> Ruyi is a new OC, granddaughter to King Bumi and King Kuei’s wife. Possible best friend or new love interest for M, I haven’t decided yet.
> 
> This is unrelated to this fandom, but if you watch or think about watching the Inuyasha sequel, Hanyo no Yashahime, don’t watch it . The anime promotes pedophilia as Rin, a girl of 14, is the mother to Towa and Setsuna who are also daughters to a 20-year-old Sesshomaru who took Rin as his ward in Inuyasha. Its also trivializes abusive relationships and a grown man holding a 13-year-old girl hostage because he is obsessed with her. I was so disturbed by these two episodes that I had to write this in the notes here.
> 
> #cancelyashahime #anti-pedophilia


End file.
